Staff on the Qantas A380 plane that made an emergency landing in November were only alerted to the damaged wing when a passenger spotted it on the in-flight entertainment.

The QF32 plane which narrowly avoided disaster while travelling over Indonesia on November 4, was found to be leaking fluid after the failure of one of its Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines.

But while several system warnings went off in the cockpit, the fuel leak was only spotted when a Qantas pilot, travelling as a passenger, saw the trail in an image broadcast from a camera mounted on the plane.

The pilot alerted a crew member who then went down to the lower deck on the plane’s left side and confirmed the damage.

The revelations come as part of the Australian Transport Safety
Bureau's initial report into the incident which saw the Sydney-bound
plane narrowly avoid disaster by returning to Singapore for an emergency
landing.

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The near-miss was found to be the result of ‘an uncontained engine
failure’ which caused a fire and significant structural damage to the
aircraft when a loose disc sheared through the wing and other plane
parts.

A preliminary report by Airbus confirmed the cause, finding that the
engine explosion sent debris flying which severed cables, nearly hit the
fuel tank and took out the flight control systems.

Debris: Indonesian police officers and locals inspect parts of the Qantas superjumbo that rained down on them

The ATSB report into the world’s newest and largest aircraft,
recommended further investigations in to the engine and the extent of
the damage caused as well as the response by flight and cabin crew and
the emergency services.

As a result of the findings, the Federal Court of Australia has
granted an injunction so Qantas is able to sue Rolls-Royce over the
losses it suffered as a result of the engine problems, estimated to be
in the region of £64m.

Rolls-Royce said the Australian findings were ‘consistent with what we have said before’.